Avramopoulos meets Turkish PM Yildirim

European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos had a meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on the sidelines of the Munich Conference held on Friday in the Bavarian capital. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and the Minister for European Affairs Omar Celik also attended the meeting. The meeting took place in a constructive atmosphere and both sides expressed their commitment to further strengthening of EU-Turkey relations.

The European Commissioner stressed that the EU-Turkey Declaration has contributed decisively to the significant decrease of arrivals from Turkey and stressed that the EU and Turkey should cooperate closely in the fulfillment of the criteria that have been agreed, whilst recognizing the pressure on Turkey because of the situation in its neighborhood. Avramopoulos also noted that the Commission supported decisively the restoration of the constitutional order in Turkey after the failed coup last July.

The Turkish Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister thanked the European Commissioner for the efforts to strengthen the EU-Turkey relations and noted that their relations have improved compared to previous months. The Turkish side said it hopes for the support of the European Commissioner so that progress is achieved and the obstacles are overcome.

Meanwhile, the European Committee will present on March 2 a new progress report on the implementation of the EU-Turkey Declaration.

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